Each month, National Geographic magazine features breathtaking photographs in Visions of Earth. Browse through visions of the world as seen through a photographer's eye.

Photograph by Muhammed Muheisen, AP Images

December 2011

Pakistan—Finely dressed in military costumes, two brothers prepare to accompany their sister across a neighborhood street on a winter’s morning in Islamabad. The children were headed to a photo studio for a family portrait.

Photograph by Richard Mosse, Institute

December 2011

Democratic Republic of the Congo—Healthy vegetation in a verdant area of South Kivu Province appears reddish when captured with infrared photography. Such imagery aids foresters, cartographers, and the military.

Photograph by Matthew Niederhauser, Institute

December 2011

China—As if swimming in a fantasy aquarium, a school of decorative fish hovers inside Beijing’s renovated Water Cube. Where Olympic swimmers used to compete, visitors now frolic in a wave pool and on elaborate water-park rides.

Photograph by Christopher Swann, Biosphoto

November 2011

Mexico—Surfacing in warm winter waters off the Baja California coast, a gray whale flashes its baleen plates by a boat. The area's lagoons and bays provide breeding and calving grounds for the giants, which migrate from as far north as the Bering Sea.

Photograph by Desmond Boylan, Reuters

November 2011

Cuba—Enjoying the storm, a boy dances in a downspout's downpour along a narrow street in Old Havana—a centuries-old part of the city that has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration of the area's buildings is proceeding slowly.

Photograph by Alex Saberi

November 2011

United Kingdom—A lone mute swan stretches its wings upon a brook as the mists of dawn filter through London's Richmond Park. By tradition, the British monarch has the right to claim ownership of unmarked birds of this species in open water.

Photograph by Jim Lo Scalzo

October 2011

United States—In windswept Iowa, ears of mature corn dry ahead of the autumn harvest. Last year the state yielded nearly 62 million tons of the crop—vital for livestock feed and ethanol production—making it the top U.S. grower of golden kernels.

Photograph by Jami Tarris, Corbis

October 2011

Indonesia—A tender moment transpires between mother and infant orangutans in Borneo's Tanjung Puting National Park. The arboreal species has one of the longest intervals between births among mammals, typically around eight years.

Photograph by Matthew Slaby, Luceo

October 2011

United States—Burning hot on a winter's day, a brush fire consumes a patch of dried marsh, drawing spectators at a golf course in Denver, Colorado. Fueled by wind and low humidity, the blaze charred dozens of acres.

Photograph by Jak Wonderly

September 2011

United States—From his underwater perch, Claude, an albino American alligator, slips through the looking-glass waterline. Although his condition causes poor eyesight, he relies on other senses to navigate his abode in a San Francisco aquarium.

Photograph by Menahem Kahana, AFP/Getty Images

September 2011

China—An emerald forest of light comes alive as dancers perform at the opening of last year's Asian Games in the southeastern city of Guangzhou. More than 40 countries participate in the regional sporting event, held every four years.

Photograph by Dmitry Markov

September 2011

Russia—Sunshine and freshly laundered sheets invite shadow plays in the yard of a special boarding home in the Pskov region. Here mentally disabled children from ages 4 to 18 learn to live independently—cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the wash.

Photograph by Olivier Grunewald

August 2011

Indonesia—The blue flame of burning sulfur flickers near a miner on Kawah Ijen volcano in East Java. The pungent element is mined near the crater's highly acidic lake for such industrial uses as rubber and sugar processing.

Photograph by Jay Fine

August 2011

United States—In New York Harbor the Statue of Liberty weathers a lightning storm against the sparkle of the New Jersey shore. Although this bolt missed the monument, a few are estimated to strike Lady Liberty each year.

Photograph by David Høgsholt; Reportage by Getty Images

August 2011

South Korea—On single breaths of up to a minute and a half, these Korean haenyeo, or sea women, search for conch and other edibles off the coast of Jeju Island. With fewer females free diving for a living, the storied tradition is fading.

Photograph by Jose Cardona

July 2011

United States—At a Maui aquarium a Hawaiian green turtle makes a guest appearance. Members of this threatened species are unique among sea turtles for their herbivorous diet, thought to imbue their fat with a greenish hue.

Photograph by Steve Irvine

July 2011

Canada—Fluttering wings leave lacy trails as moths beat their way to a floodlight on a rural Ontario lawn. The midsummer night's exposure, held for 20 seconds, captured some of the hundreds of insects engaged in a nocturnal swarm.

Photograph by Tomas Monita

July 2011

Peru—Stone walls on Isla Guañape Norte prevent precious bird droppings, called guano, from falling into the Pacific. Coveted as fertilizer, the dung must be reaped by hand. Here a worker returns sifted-out feathers and bones.

Photograph by Edgar Müller

June 2011

Ireland—Frolicking on glacial ice on a summer's day? Part illusion, thanks to Edgar Müller's perspective painting "The Crevasse." Created over five days on a pier's pavement in Dún Laoghaire, the faux precipice covers more than 2,000 square feet.

Photograph by Solvin Zankl, NPL/Minden Pictures

June 2011

Atlantic Ocean—Fearsome predator of the deep, a viperfish displays its meal-clinching assets: bioluminescent spots thought to lure prey in dark waters and a set of ferocious fangs. The teeth are strictly for seizing, as food is swallowed whole.

Photograph by Toby Smith; Reportage by Getty Images

June 2011

England—The shell of Brighton's West Pier emerges in snowy outline during a night exposure lit by promenade lamps on shore. A bustling site for entertainment in the 1920s, it fell into neglect before a 2003 fire left only bare bones.

Photograph by Robin Hammond, Panos

May 2011

Mozambique—The glowing hues of dusk bathe a mud-splattered gold miner in the border province of Manica. The area draws scores of workers from neighboring Zimbabwe who pan for traces of the precious metal in turbid waters.

Photograph by Huang Xiaobang, Xinhua/Zuma

May 2011

China—Gleaming with mouthwatering perfection, a "banquet" of stones resembling food adorns a table at the sixth International Rare Stone Festival in Liuzhou. About 3,000 specimens were on show.

Photograph by Meta Penca

May 2011

Finland—Mimmi the brown bear shows her flair for flexibility during an afternoon stretch at the Ähtäri Zoo. Despite intense summer heat, the lively resident lifted paws for minutes at a time in poses learned from her mother.

Photograph by Andrew McLeish, Lightmediation

April 2011

Germany—A boxy Trabant scoots past other Cold War vestiges at Checkpoint Charlie, where the image of a U.S. soldier looks into former East Berlin. A Russian soldier on the pole's reverse faces what was the American side of the crossing.

Photograph by Marsel van Oosten, Squiver

April 2011

Namibia—In a scene stolen from a dream, a house succumbs to sand in Kolmanskop, once a thriving settlement for diamond miners. Winds have helped desert dunes reclaim the site, abandoned for more than 50 years.

Photograph by Bruno Morandi, Lightmediation

April 2011

Mongolia—East meets West on the frigid steppe as a teenager clad in a traditional del practices basketball near Batsumber village. Playing courts dot rural areas and cities alike as the game catches on with the nation's youth.

Photograph by Billy Currie Photography/Getty Images

March 2011

United Kingdom—On the banks of Loch Tulla in the Scottish Highlands, wind-sculpted trees emerge momentarily during a snowstorm. Piles of powder and extreme cold made last winter one of the region's harshest in decades.

Photograph by Pete Barrett

March 2011

United States—Uquq, a 16-year-old Pacific walrus rescued from the Alaska coast, lingers underwater at California's Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Only 18 walruses live in captivity in the U.S., and births among them are uncommon.

Photograph by Josep Lago, AFP/Getty Images

March 2011

Spain—A late afternoon stroll in Barcelona becomes a study in black and white during a rare snow shower last March. Temperatures in the city, on the Mediterranean coast, usually fall between 50° and 60°F this time of year.

Photograph by Alan Sailer, Whitehotpix/Zuma Press

February 2011

California—Like a high-speed Cupid's arrow, an air-rifle pellet pierces the heart of a rose at some 800 feet per second. The flower, plucked from a garden and flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, shatters in a spray of petal fragments.

Photograph by Sergey Ponomarev, AP Images

February 2011

Russia—Embracing love in the time of wildfires, newlyweds celebrate as smog engulfs the city of Ryazan. The region was one of the worst hit when last summer's blazes, fueled by drought and severe heat, ailed the country.

Photograph by Issei Kato, Reuters

February 2011

Japan—Scarlet greater flamingos and their Chilean relatives get cozy at the Sapporo Maruyama Zoo. The birds' color arises from carotenoid pigments in their algae-and-crustacean diet, often supplemented in captivity.

Photograph by Zhang Dawei, AFP/Getty Images

January 2011

China—Towering ice sculptures set a winter night ablaze with color at the 26th annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. The monuments, showcasing architecture from palaces to pagodas, stood for more than a month.

Photograph by Sean Gallup, Getty Images

January 2011

Germany—A diver polishing glass joins a radiant display of sea life in a giant saltwater tank at Berlin's Radisson Blu Hotel. The ring-shaped AquaDom, some 80 feet high with an elevator inside, holds about 1,500 tropical fish.

Photograph by Heiti Paves

January 2011

Estonia—Bursting with luminosity under fluorescent dyes and laser beams, a pollen-producing structure from a thale cress glows under a microscope. The plant's small genome makes it a favorite subject for genetic research.